I was struck by the fact that Tom Brady's punishment is relatively minor, but as I understand it Jazstremski and McNally (the equipment guys) have essentially lost their jobs ("indefinite suspension without pay.")

It was clear from the texts that McNally didn't WANT to be involved in the deflating; he was under pressure to do it to keep his job. He grew quite resentful of Brady for putting him in that position. Yet now he is the fall guy.

This whole thing is BS. There is no PROOF of much of anything. Mostly there is a lot of jealousy of the Patriots and their success. The balls were underinflated the first half of the game with the Colts. The second half when they were (supposedly) properly inflated, the Patriots destroyed the Colts----some advantage!

Bottom line, Goodell has handled this like an idiot and the NFL needs a new, and effective Commissioner!

This whole thing is BS. There is no PROOF of much of anything. Mostly there is a lot of jealousy of the Patriots and their success. The balls were underinflated the first half of the game with the Colts. The second half when they were (supposedly) properly inflated, the Patriots destroyed the Colts----some advantage!

Bottom line, Goodell has handled this like an idiot and the NFL needs a new, and effective Commissioner!

hmmm--

I agree with everything you say....

But then the little voice in the back of my mind says, "Yeah, but they cheated! And they did so willfully"

This whole thing is BS. There is no PROOF of much of anything. Mostly there is a lot of jealousy of the Patriots and their success. The balls were underinflated the first half of the game with the Colts. The second half when they were (supposedly) properly inflated, the Patriots destroyed the Colts----some advantage!

Bottom line, Goodell has handled this like an idiot and the NFL needs a new, and effective Commissioner!

The investigator did not say it was proven. He said that based on the preponderance of evidence, it was 'more likely than not', that Brady was aware.

Brady admitted that he likes the balls underinflated, they have texts between two assistance, one of whom calls himself the 'deflator', with one guy asking the other for new shoes and autographed balls, and threatening that instead of under-inflating, he would OVER-inflate them because he was mad at Brady.

Brady's refusal to turn over his cell phone for the investigation also gave the NFL cause to doubt his innocence.

Add in the Patriots' history of cheating, and it's not a far stretch to think that Brady knew.

I find it telling that the majority of people speaking out on the issue are A.) motivated by jealousy and/or B.) speaking out of ignorance. It is obvious in the statements that paint with a broad brush of "no one should be allowed to cheat" and those that dramatize with suggestions of banishment and stripping of titles. I assume in most of these cases the people enraged have never put on a helmet or played a down of football.

IF it were a significant advantage to adjust the inflation of the ball, the NFL should have procedures in place to check and monitor the balls to insure that each is inflated to the correct pressure and maintained at that pressure. Truth is, its not. They check them before the game AND at least 2 officials touch the ball EVERY PLAY. If at any time something felt drastically wrong with the ball, the official has the opportunity to change it.

Realizing that chat rooms and message boards are heavily populated with sin free saints, the utopian ideal of not cheating between the sidelines is beyond naive. I am not saying that guys regularly stab each other in the pile, but it is a collision sport that pushes the limits of physical and mental strength. If you are not pushing the absolute limits of the rules on every play, you lose. It's just that simple. If you tried coaching football based exclusively on the rule book, your offensive lineman would be useless. EVERY offensive linemen is taught the "right way" to hold and it is at the discretion of the official as to when it crosses the line in to cheating. Every coach would agree that you COULD call holding on every offensive play and not be wrong.

Jerry Rice used stick-em to catch passes from Montana. Does that make them both cheaters? Should they be banned from the HOF and have their Super Bowl wins rescinded? Of course not. The officials didn't stop it and the impact on the outcome was insignificant. Same here. Literally stop and take a deep breath. Now ask yourself, "In the grand scheme of things, is over or under inflation of the ball a critical element or deciding factor in any football game?" No, But it is an easily adjusted portion of the game that, coupled with every other possible advantage you can gain within the rules, that give you a "higher probability than not" (one of my favorite terms from the damming investigation) of winning. As Herm Edwards so eloquently pointed out, "We-play-the-game-to-win".

"IF it were a significant advantage to adjust the inflation of the ball, the NFL should have procedures in place to check and monitor the balls to insure that each is inflated to the correct pressure and maintained at that pressure. Truth is, its not. They check them before the game AND at least 2 officials touch the ball EVERY PLAY. If at any time something felt drastically wrong with the ball, the official has the opportunity to change it."

Yeah sure I totally see your point---except that regardless of what BRady thought of the rule or how you think of the rule- as far as affecting game play-- The fact is.... if he broke the rule then it is cheating.

*note- no where did I support the punishment of Brady. I am merely engaging in the conversation about cheating in sports.

I dont see this as any different as a sport that says you cant run in the same lane as another competitor until you have lapped the other person or completed a full rotation on the track. Everyone knows it is easier to run on the left track and you use less energy to get around. Plus it is a huge mental push. But if you are in the middle or the back of the pack and no one is near-how are you hurting the sport or the person in that lane? It doesn't matter. What matters is that your integrity decides not to begrudge the issue because the rules are the rules.

Isn't that the bigger issue here? Someone decided they dont have to comply with the rules of the game.

Need help from you tech folks: If the league was able to obtain incriminating stuff from the locker room guy's phones, why couldn't they have gotten any of Brady's texts to those guys from their phones? Wouldn't Brady's texts have been on their phones, even if "deleted"?? Am I missing something basic??

Yeah sure I totally see your point---except that regardless of what BRady thought of the rule or how you think of the rule- as far as affecting game play-- The fact is.... if he broke the rule then it is cheating.

If we hold true that infractions of the rules is cheating, please see the attached link and explain to me how <1lb of air pressure is more noteworthy than the other 235 rule infractions that resulted in almost $26 million dollars in fines and 215 game suspensions?

EVERY ONE OF THEM BROKE "RULES"! And remember, under your own guidelines, you can't dismiss the rules because you dismiss as irrelevant because, after all....if they broke the rule they were cheating! Everything from chop blocks, to illegal blows to the head, to PEDs, to (my personal favorite) uniform/equipment violations were breaking the NFL rules (and by your definition cheating).

because this was a high stakes games- and it made a huge portion of the public aware of the ease of the transgression. It made the whole NFL club look bad.

This wasnt a moment where a guy looks bad for knocking someone down who wasnt anywhere near a ball.

This was hyper inflated story on international news.

I dont know if I agree with the punishment; but the fact that it came to light that he not only intentionally broke the rule (multiple times-multiple games) but he also was abusive to other team mates about it- well that just makes me think he is a pissant who deserves to get punished somehow.... I dont know if that is even rational but I dont like his behavior

I think Brady's attorney is going to kick Well's and Goodell's butt. They have no concrete evidence and a very lame conclusion.

They were discussing that on NFL Live, and one opinion was that if they go to court, Brady's phone records could be subpoenaed, and we'd know what Brady said. They don't want that.

Need help from you tech folks: If the league was able to obtain incriminating stuff from the locker room guy's phones, why couldn't they have gotten any of Brady's texts to those guys from their phones? Wouldn't Brady's texts have been on their phones, even if "deleted"?? Am I missing something basic??

One would think so. Maybe they want to know who else he called and texted. They want to know what else Tom said and to whom he said it.

As for breaking of the rules, I guess we need to draw a line somewhere, but where? Holding is considered a necessary part of being a lineman, but it is against the rules. I don't get upset about it unless they miss the guy who held one of my players.

Running a pick play, spearing (there's an old term), helmet to helmet, and other illegal plays where someone can get hurt should always be enforced, though sometimes a guy gets called for it when it didn't really happen.

Regarding this specific case, letting each team be responsible for their own balls is silly and invites tampering. They should take that responsibility away and/or allow the teams to choose their own psi.